Super Bowl champions the Philadelphia Eagles open the much-anticipated 2025 NFL season with a home clash against the Dallas Cowboys on Friday, September 5 (01:20 BST).
Head coach Nick Sirianni’s Eagles stormed to victory in Super Bowl LIX on February 9, 2025, at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, where they topped the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22.
Philadelphia put on a dominant display from the start and built a 34-0 lead by the third quarter courtesy of a superb performance from quarterback Jalen Hurts, who threw two touchdown passes, ran for another, and earned Super Bowl MVP honors.
In contrast, opposition quarterback Patrick Mahomes was sacked six times and the Chiefs were held to just 23 yards in the first half.
Three-peat denied
The victory denied Kansas City a historic three-peat and secured the Eagles’ second Super Bowl title, represented by the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
All eyes will be on Hurts and star running back Saquon Barkley to see if they can emulate their achievements in the coming season.
Barkley arrived in Philadelphia as a free agent on a three-year, $37.75 million deal after leaving the New York Giants and promptly racked up a league-leading 2,005 rushing yards.
He was given a two-year, $41.2m contract extension by the Eagles this off-season – and Hurts admits he is delighted to have such a “great player” in the line-up.
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Unique element
“Saquon brings a unique element of explosiveness, speed, and power, and the implications he can have on the game and how he plays a game have been big,” Hurts told Sky Sports.
“I always recall we’ve always had great players, and specifically, we’ve always had a great run game. And we’ve had Pro Bowlers the last three or four years at the running back position.
“He’s definitely taking it up a notch in terms of just his ability and what he’s able to do, and just a complimentary element of everyone complimenting each other.
“He’s a great player, and I’m definitely appreciative to have him by my side.”
Hurts also stacked up some incredible numbers during the Eagles’ run to Super Bowl glory, passing for 2,903 yards and scoring 18 passing touchdowns, with just five interceptions.
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Carried away
The quarterback also scored 14 rushing touchdowns, and Sirianni told Sky Sports: “I think people get so carried away with passing yards stats.
“Passing yards is an indication of your team sometimes in the sense of, like, we were in four-minute [offence] a lot, we were handing the ball off in the fourth quarter an awful lot, and what I love about Jalen is just his selflessness. All he cares about is winning.
“And the stat I like to look at for quarterback players is their quarterback rating and that tells you how efficient a guy is.
“Jalen’s quarterback rating was over 100 last year, and that’s rare. That’s hard to do.”
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What are the fixtures, dates and times for NFL Week 1?
All times in BST.
01:20 Dallas Cowboys @ Philadelphia Eagles Fri 5th Sep
01:00 Kansas City Chiefs @ Los Angeles Chargers Sat 6th Sep
18:00 Miami Dolphins @ Indianapolis Colts Sun 7th Sep
18:00 New York Giants @ Washington Commanders Sun 7th Sep
18:00 Pittsburgh Steelers @ New York Jets Sun 7th Sep
18:00 Las Vegas Raiders @ New England Patriots Sun 7th Sep
18:00 Cincinnati Bengals @ Cleveland Browns Sun 7th Sep
18:00 Carolina Panthers @ Jacksonville Jaguars Sun 7th Sep
18:00 Arizona Cardinals @ New Orleans Saints Sun 7th Sep
18:00 Tampa Bay Bucs @ Atlanta Falcons Sun 7th Sep
21:05 Tennessee Titans @ Denver Broncos Sun 7th Sep
21:05 San Francisco 49ers @ Seattle Seahawks Sun 7th Sep
21:25 Detroit Lions @ Green Bay Packers Sun 7th Sep
21:25 Houston Texans @ Los Angeles Rams Sun 7th Sep
01:20 Baltimore Ravens @ Buffalo Bills Mon 8th Sep
01:15 Minnesota Vikings @ Chicago Bears Tue 9th Sep
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Shameeka Voyiya 
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Ren Azrack Escosio